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What ever happened to Green Lantern and Hawkgirl?

I remember the Justice League animated show of the mid-2000s fondly, if just because I was far too old to be watching children’s superhero cartoons. In the series, many young fans had their first interactions with the Green Lantern John Stewart, who besides being an ex-Marine and gifted architect, was a prominent and respectable African-American superhero. Diversity in comics is more important than you think — the original Justice League consisted of one women, one Martian, and five white dudes.

So when Warner Bros. came out with the TV show in 2001, they figured that John Stewart would be a welcome addition to their starting line up. Then he and Hawkgirl fell in love. Normally we’d all cheer and place our hands lovingly over our hearts, but as the series wrapped up, one giant plot twist stayed unsolved. In Justice League Beyond #7-8, written by Derek Fridolfs & Dustin Nguyen and drawn by Eric Nguyen, you can finally ease your worried mind and get your first good night of sleep in years.

The comic’ll explain the backstory better than I can. If you’ve seen the cartoon, this is familiar ground:

Okay, caught up? Basically, Green Lantern (born in Detroit) and Hawkgirl (an alien from the planet Thanagar) dated for a while until Hawkgirl’s people arrived on Earth and tried to destroy the planet. That totally kills the mood, y’know? So the two broke up and Stewart began a relationship with Vixen, but during one adventure when they traveled to the future, it turns out Green Lantern and Hawkgirl have a son together.

Now, I’m all for soap operas filling time when bad guys aren’t being punched, but as the series wrapped up, the status quo hadn’t changed. Stewart and Vixen still cuddled passionately aboard the Watch Tower as Hawkgirl awkwardly looked on from behind the cafeteria walls. Well, I’m here today to piece together those missing links. Lucky you.

By the way, notice how the comic formatting looks different than normal? Digital only, baby. This series gets downloaded straight to your computer and away from those prying eyes of the Magic: The Gathering players sitting in the darkest corner of your local comic book store. Don’t let their Cool Ranch Doritos fingers and Mountain Dew breath judge you, much like I’m judging Magic: The Gathering players. Or is it Yu-Gi-Oh that the kids play now?

Anyway, we pick up with Stewart and Vixen on a date. An important date.

What’s the most important rule of superhero comics? Superheroes are meant to suffer. Happiness remains fleeting in the world of capes and magic. Unfortunately, Green Lantern learns this the hard way. The very hard way.

Far bloodier than on TV. Also, the TV show didn’t massacre supporting characters, but different artistic medium bring different rules, I guess. With Vixen’s death weighing heavily on poor Stewart, it’s time he puts those superpowers to good use. First, that weird shadow dude? It’s the evil spirit of Hawkman, who even in death remains angry that Hawkgirl chose Green Lantern over him. I’m serious:

As Green Lantern and Hawkgirl confront the Shadow Thief, the dark mood of the arc stays in full-blown effect. Did you know that Stewart served as a sniper during his time in the Marines? I thought you’d like to know.

In comics, no DC title contains more bloodshed and killing than the Green Lantern comics. But in the cartoon world, the Green Lanterns like to keep their hands murder-free. So when one of their own caps a baddie in the noggin, a moral spanking must be administered.

Look, it sucks having no Green Lantern, but Earth does have hundreds of other superheroes patrolling it. Like a half dozen Kryptonians and a small village of Bat-people. That’ll probably be enough. For our two protagonists (and after Vixen’s funeral), the story ends romantically and happily, which is by far my favorite type of ending.

If you’re under the age of fourteen and haven’t seen the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited cartoons yet, go do so. It’s well worth your time. If you’re over fourteen, go watch them anyway — just don’t tell anyone.

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59 Comments on “What ever happened to Green Lantern and Hawkgirl?”

Sweet. You almost seemed to read my mind by posting this. I’ve been on a Justice League cartoon marathon and just finished rewatching Starcrossed. I even have the show on at this moment (restarted Season One). So definitely made me smile to see this.

There are a lot of things I see in your articles that I would like to comment on but don’t. This is one I am going to take the time to write about because it shows something that I feel is very important: COMIC BOOKS ARE DYING OFF AS A MEDIUM and things like this are why. Marvel does it, but DC seems to do it far more often. They concentrate on regular readers, that 18-35 year old age group and aim their stories at them by making them “mature” ( or most often, using darker tones, lots of violence, sex, and story telling that depends more on shock value than actual value). In doing this, they are alienating new, younger readers. The Justice League and JLU cartoons were excellent, high quality, easily accessible shows that stayed true to the spirit of the characters. Kids and adults alike could enjoy them. In the same vein, so was the original run on the WB’s Teen Titans, even though it was aimed at an even younger audience. Now take those shows and look at what DC has done with their legacy (for lack of a better term). Here we have murder and death and blood shed. In the case of the Titans, look at how DC chose to personify Raven in the Pre52 (reanimated via black magic in a pool of blood by her canabalistic semi-incestuous half brother) or New52 Starfire (rage fueled space harlot). I could rave on like an old man sitting on his porch with a shotgun on his knee, or I could direct you to a comic strip by the brilliant Dave Willis of Shortpacked, and what he had to say about it.http://www.shortpacked.com/2011/comic/book-13/04-remedial-adulthood/math/

I could go on and on, but no one needs me to rant further. Thanks for your time.

You make some fantastic points! I agree that DC made some mistakes over-sexualizing a few of their New 52 titles, for the reason that the comic you linked to beautifully illustrated. Yes, it’s hurting the bringing in of new readers and remains not a smart business move — but on the other hand, I do really like to believe in the artistic freedom of the storytelling to portray the characters however the writers and artists want. Even if that means wildly sexual or crazy violent. I very much appreciate you reading, and I thank you for your well-written, wonderfully persuasive comment!

Hi i have question. As you know there was a series of the justice league (justice league unlimited). On the first season, int he last episode shyera and green lantern “break up”. When the second season came green lanter was with another girl ( vixen) however green lanter in one episode goes to the future and discovers that he has in the future a son with shyera. However in the season finalle he sais to shyera that he is with the vixen, but he sais also that he steels love shyera. My question is: IS green lanter going to stay with shyera on vixen?

Hi there This is a really nice article but however somehow confuses me. Whatever happened to hawkman and hawkgirl’s son: Hector hall (Dr.fate). Is this Earth one or earth two? And where does Carter hall reincarnate? I just can’t seem to make the connection.

This is neither Earth One nor Earth Two. This is a continuation of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon from the early 2000s. So while definitely non-canon, it serves as a sort of epilogue for those who wanted to know what happened to the two characters from the animated show.

Masterfully written. This was an excellent work. I took great pleasure in reading another great tale of my personal favorite hero John Stewart Green Lantern. As for the JL animated series I’ll watch it again and again even as an adult it’s just that good.

well, the only thing that bugs me is that in “The Once and Future Thing” Warhawk (Rex Sterwart) said that both his parents died when the Watch Tower was destroyed. Kinda hard for that to happen if they weren’t in the league anymore. Other than that, good story. For the most part I enjoyed it.

Well, you’ve got to remember that the future timeline GL and Batman witnessed was a corrupted timeline thanks to what Chronos had done. Once they fixed the timeline by sticking Chronos in a time loop (I think that’s what it’s called), that future was erased. We do know that Warhawk actually does exist in the future because you see him in Batman Beyond, which is the correct future for the animated series.

Personally, I’m not a really big fan of how they decided to get John and Shayera back together in this. Yes, I’ll admit that they are my favorite pairing, but I feel that the writers went the easy route by killing Mari off. It was a cheap death too! Her character deserves much more than what the writers decided on. If they were really set on killing her off, then they could have at least given her a heroes death. That’s just my opinion though. Now, another thing that bugs me is that Hawkman in the AU is not a Thanagarian, but a human with strap on wings. So, that little scene with Hawkman doesn’t really make sense since his wings aren’t a part of his body. Sadly, there’s actually more that bothers me in this storyline, but I’m sure no one wants to hear me rant about it all. Anyway, once again, just my personal opinion on it.

I have to disagree with you. I don’t know any kid who watched this that couldn’t follow the story. It was clean, simple, and even though there were subtle nuances, the structures were strong and not at all cluttered. Every niece and nephew could tell who liked who, who loved who, and who was sad from heartbreak. They knew when Wonder Woman liked Batman, they knew when Hawk Woman was sad she couldn’t be with GL anymore, and they actually liked Vixen when they saw her. Give youngsters some credit, they can surprise you with how clever they can be.The most frequently asked question they had for their nerdy uncle was “who is that?” when a new character appeared, but with a little patience they got their introduction, and could make up their own minds if they liked them or not.

Unless they bring the show back, Mari is fine and is still with John. While some might not like it, the comic has no impact on the JL/JLU verse. It a nice side story to the fans of the pairing and gives them closure, I guess.:-)

I agree. They need to bring back JLU. People would love to see these stories resolved in animated form. Real DCAU canon. Killing off Vixen is no way to end her and John’s relationship. In the comics Vixen actual marries B’wana Beast. They only showed him in one episode of JLU. I think the one where Batman called him to help track down Wonder Woman after she was turned into a pig by Circe. I want to see where Fire and Flash relationship goes, what happens with Huntress and The Question, To see if Black Canary and Green Arrow ever settle down and to see the real reason why John and Mari break up and John and Shayera get back together finally. These are things we would all like to see answered in animated form. I say season 4 of Justice League Unlimited needs to happen. In memory of Dwayne McDuffie. If they did it right…I think he would of been proud.

Is there a way for fans to contact the cartoon network to request that they do a show to tie 👔 up loose ends on that storyline, as well as the relationship 💑 with Batman and Wonder Woman? I heard a new show is in the works.

Hi i have question. As you know there was a series of the justice league (justice league unlimited). On the first season, int he last episode shyera and green lantern “break up”. When the second season came green lanter was with another girl ( vixen) however green lanter in one episode goes to the future and discovers that he has in the future a son with shyera. However in the season finalle he sais to shyera that he is with the vixen, but he sais also that he steels love shyera. My question is: IS green lanter going to stay with shyera on vixen?

Hi i have question. As you know there was a series of the justice league (justice league unlimited). On the first season, int he last episode shyera and green lantern “break up”. When the second season came green lanter was with another girl ( vixen) however green lanter in one episode goes to the future and discovers that he has in the future a son with shyera. However in the season finalle he sais to shyera that he is with the vixen, but he sais also that he steels love shyera. My question is: IS green lanter going to stay with shyera on vixen?

Oh, good to know that someone finally attempted to wrap up the story about Shayera and John nicely. I didn’t watch JLU, but I enjoyed JL both as kid and as adult, and Hawkgirl was my favourite character by far, I even dyed my hair red initially because of her being red-head. If there is a hope for the next season of JLU, I’ll wait for it. It would be great to know the canon ending of this story.

I have been anxiously looking for any media reports that they will resume the JLU series, especially with the number of DC movies scheduled to come out on the big screen starting in 3/16. I did read one report where Mr. Timm was going to do a series on television, but as for finishing the storylines, I have no idea. It is my hope, hope, hope that they do a conclusion to the story lines left hanging when the JLU went off the air. Does anyone know if there is a fan base actively and publically advocating this to convince Mr. Timm to bring it all back to at least finish it? So terribly want to know what happened. Thanks for this wonderful adaptation..

Yeah the black one was so not manly. After all, he only killed a wraith with a bloody gun. Did your mother drop you on your head back in your hill billy ranch? It is obvious you can’t fathom the concept of romance because you my inbred friend only have hopes of getting laid with your mom and sister. Why don’t you stay in elementary school, since you’re so afraid of getting cooties? Bloody cancerous shit stain.

Was binge watching Justice League Unlimited and the longing looks and subtext between Green Lantern and Hawkgirl made me want to find out more. Your piece was well written, researched and quite entertaining. Thanks from Africa…the home of John Stewart and the redhead formerly known as Hawkgirl.

The Guardians are idiots. They accuse John of violating his oath when he upheld more than ever at that moment. He saved Hawkgirl’s life and removed from the universe a malicious spirit that would never stop wreaking havoc on him and anyone he cared for. He didn’t even use the ring. He used a gun and not without cause.

That’s the problem with these guys. They are so “lawful” that they overlook all of the deeds and service and focus on one moment and cannot look past it. They believe Green Lanterns are supposed to be soldiers at all times, regardless of circumstance. They lack compassion and that is why the Corps is so deeply flawed.

[…] Note: In some versions, Hawkgirl hooks up Green Lantern and has a son. Here is a cool article about it, complete with snippets from the comic. Besides being yet another article about Hawkgirl’s […]

[…] The most interesting human Green Lantern is John Stewart, who has no relation to the most interesting host of the Daily Show. He was DC’s first black superhero and was used to tell stories that highlighted racial issues. He would take over when Hal Jordan was unavailable, like the time he slipped in the tub and was knocked unconscious. He was also the main Green Lantern in the Justice League animated series and had a complicated relationship with Hawkgirl. Jac touched on it briefly before, and greater comic minds than my own have considered every aspect of their love. […]

They keep changing origin stories. I don’t like it… why not just have a new Thanagarian girl instead of the original Hawkgirl in this role? They changed the classic golden age story, made her a cheater. Nothing is sacred.

I was actually re watching JL/JLU and wondering if Warhawk did had more of backstory than his appearance at the ep Once and Future Thing. Good to know what happened to GL and Shayera, though why on Earth give Vixen such a stupid death? She deserved more, she was a badass hero!
So, GL and Shayera died of old age in Africa after having a kid? I can see John Stwart doing that, but not Shayera. She is a natural worrior being quiet isnt her thing.